


Escape To The End

by Midnight_Pheonix



Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Author is a Clay | Dream Apologist (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream-centric (Video Blogging RPF), Gen, Kinda, Tags May Change, This is a first, mentions of tommyinnit - Freeform, no beta sorry my condolences, oh and mentions of technoblade, ok yeah theres slightly more angst, slight angst, uh i dont rly know how to tag, wow i actually finished this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-13 07:46:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29648052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Midnight_Pheonix/pseuds/Midnight_Pheonix
Summary: Dream breaks out of prison and tries to get to the end before the prison guards (hunters i guess) kill himbased on the theory floating around on how Dream escaping prison is the backstory for his manhunt videos
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s)
Comments: 15
Kudos: 168





	1. Break Out

**Author's Note:**

> uh i have nothing to say so umm enjoy!
> 
> (i have no clue what im doing)
> 
> oh and this fic kinda ignores Tommy's 2/21 stream

Despite being accustomed to it, the quiet dripping of the crying obsidian was quite infuriating sometimes. Dream didn’t know how long it had been since Sapnap’s visit, but his words kept repeating over and over in his head, and his amber eyes glared at him every time he closed his eyes to sleep.

“You only have one life left.”

A shiver ran down his spine, and he subconsciously reached up to touch the scar Tommy left, brushing his fingers along the scarred tissue that lay in a jagged line between his neck and left shoulder. The soft click sounded from the corner of the room as another potato was dropped into the pool of water, the soft ripples breaking up the smooth, glassy surface of the water.

Dream clenched his fist slightly.

Ugh.

He was so tired of eating raw potatoes, and his empty stomach churned from not eating in days.

Wait-

The potatoes-

He stood up and ran over to the pool of water, stumbling and tripping over his weak limbs. Dream stepped into the water and looked up, squinting to see past the darkness. He could barely make out anything, so he walked over to the shroomlight.

It’s soft tangerine colored glow didn’t fade as he pried the chunk off of the wall. Dream placed the shroomlight on the floor next to the water, smiling softly to himself as the chute above was illuminated, revealing an extended piston with glittering redstone dust wired to it.

Climbing up the chute wasn’t too difficult either. Being skilled in parkour, he easily made his way up, using the grooves in the obsidian as footholds as he hauled himself up, getting to work on breaking the piston.

A few minutes later the remnants of the piston lay in a pile on the floor next to the water pool, along with several scraps of wool from the broken bed.

Dream grinned and practically leaped into the wall of lava, embracing the biting heat as the molten rock ate away at his skin and he reappeared next to a large spruce tree, the bottom of the trunk covered in slashes from past battles. 

He let out a soft gasp as his bare feet sank into the soft tufts of grass, and he shielded his eyes from the bright sunlight filtering through the trees. The lush greens and browns in the surrounding area almost brought tears to Dream’s eyes and he realized just how much he had taken everything for granted. 

Dream ran a hand down the rough bark of the spruce tree, letting his thoughts drift around.

“If you break out of this prison, it’s going to be me who takes your final life.”

He grimaced. Sitting around wasn’t going to help him, and no doubt the prison guards were already on his trail. It didn’t help that Sapnap still had the compass they made for their manhunt games when they were younger.

He racked his mind for ideas.

Tommy’s old house was nearby-

After the countless wars there would no doubt be something useful he could find amongst the chests littered about-

Dream used the tree to steady himself, took a deep breath, and ran.

He sprinted through the forest, up and down hills, looking down the whole way to prevent a painful flood of memories, then finally coming upon the smooth stone chunks sticking out of a hill. The wind whistled through the tree branches and slammed into his face, and Dream darted into Tommy’s old hillside house, locking the door behind him and collapsing onto the ground, gasping for breath.

His thoughts swirled around as he frantically threw aside chest by chest, searching for some gear or weapons.

An iron axe. A tattered shield. Several loaves of bread.

Dream grabbed a length of rope and made a makeshift belt that he tied a belt to, stuffing the bread into it.

Finally-

Yes.

He opened one of the last chests and found a few ender pearls, a sheet of purple mist surrounding them, along with a small burlap drawstring pouch, filled to the brim with crushed blaze powder.

Dream carefully wrapped the ender pearls in a piece of fabric and placed them and the blaze powder into his bag. If he made it to the end and one of the end islands, there was no way anyone would be able to find him. Besides, they’d never stop hunting him if he simply settled down somewhere in the wilderness. A faded olive green cloak lay in a dusty pile in the back corner of the room, and he picked it up, brushing the debris off of it and throwing it over his plain, tattered clothes. It was made of thin wool and he’d much rather have his hoodie, but it was better than nothing.

He then stood up and threw open the door, heading for the nearby woods that the bench overlooked.

Dream made sure he was a good distance away from the SMP before settling in a large oak tree for the night. It felt- strange- to be sleeping in the wilderness again. Sleeping in a tree or on the ground was much preferred to being back on that hard obsidian floor, and he was accustomed to it anyways, having slept alone outside ever since he pushed Sapnap and George away. 

Still, he missed spending the night in the community house- he missed being able to not constantly have to be alert- he missed the feeling of having a family-

Just the feeling of waking up, warm, covered in blankets, and greeted by jokes and hugs from friends-

He shook his head and shifted to a more comfortable position, wrapping his cloak around him and soon drifting off into sleep.

The moment Dream woke up he scrambled to sit up, almost falling out of the tree as a result. He instinctively reached to adjust his mask and froze when his hand brushed bare skin instead, cursing Sam for confiscating it. He rubbed his eyes and tried to distract himself, pulling out his communicator that was littered with chips and dents, to check and see if anything new happened or maybe get a laugh out of seeing someone (most likely Tommy) rant to the whole server about something.

Sapnap: I’ll handle this Sam  
BadBoyHalo: Wait, let me come with you  
Antfrost: And me and George too  
Sapnap: fine  
Sapnap: Sam?  
Awesamdude: Fine by me

Dream’s heart began racing. Those messages were sent two hours ago- they were most definitely nearby. The faint sound of the snapping of branches echoed through the crisp, morning air, and he began panicking even more.

He tugged open his bag and unwrapped the fabric around his ender pearls, hurriedly grabbing each one and dipping it into the blaze dust. The centers of the ender pearls turned a brighter shade of green, and he leaped down from the tree and put all of them back into his bag except for one.

With the shield in one hand and the axe strapped to his back, Dream threw the eye of ender into the distance and followed the trail of purple particles, the particles gleaming in the air as a beacon of hope.


	2. Gearing Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not the biggest fan of this chapter but oh well
> 
> also chapter names are hard to think of like dang

A spider crept up behind Dream and he brought his axe around to kill it, wearily rubbing his eyes after the mob vanished in a puff of white smoke, leaving a small tangle of loosely coiled silk behind.

His reflexes and reaction time had definitely worsened after the months spent curled up in a corner in the prison, and things that used to come easy now became a struggle. He realized how much more paranoid he’d become as well, jumping nearly a foot everytime the slightest sound of a falling rock or the twittering of bats echoed through the caves.

Dream crept around a large wall of rock, almost tripping on the jagged layers of obsidian that had crystalized over the pool of lava in the center of the cavern. The bubbling of lava and warm glow reflecting off of the wickedly sharp obsidian shards brought back memories of the prison. 

He could almost smell the musty air of the obsidian room-

Dream faltered, grabbing a nearby stalagmite to steady himself.

No.

He wasn’t back in the prison.

He was out in the wilderness.

He would be safe as long as he evaded the prison guards- but all four of them were decked out in full netherite and he only wore a few scraps of iron armor-

Everything was fine. He could handle this.

Dream took a moment to look around the cavern, delicately testing the strength of the layer of obsidian beneath his feet before walking further. He rounded the corner, clapping a hand over his mouth in surprise.

No way-

But the glint of turquoise amongst the varying shades of gray was unmistakable.

Dream took a moment to laugh quietly at the situation as he carefully walked over to the thin strip of stone under the wall the diamonds were embedded in. He, once the most powerful person on the server, was now nearing hysterical excitement just at the sight of a few diamonds. Nevermind the fact he probably had at least a hundred of them stashed away in his enderchest. 

After a few swings of a pickaxe the five diamonds lay in a pile on the ground, the lava’s shifting amber glow reflecting off of the multi-faceted gems. He scooped them up and leaped over back to the obsidian, taking a few quick paces before settling down cross-legged on the ground.

Beads of sweat formed on his forehead as he welded the diamonds together, then securely attaching the almost glowing teal blade to the wooden handle he pried off of his iron axe that was pretty much unusable at this point. 

Dream slid his tools back into the makeshift loops on his belt, and swung his newly made axe. He stumbled slightly under the weight, but after swishing it back and forth several times, he thought he had at least decently gotten the hang of it. 

He double checked that he had all his supplies and pulled a small chunk of bread off of one of his loaves, chewing it quickly while he swapped his dented iron boots for a pair of gold. Dream then walked back out of the cave system and into the mineshaft he found earlier, avoiding a hallway to the right where the wood had splintered and snapped, causing half of the doorway to have collapsed, leaving a crumble of rocks with a dark walkway behind.

There was a light tapping sound from somewhere in the mineshaft that Dream ignored at first, thinking it was just another mob. Though, he did a double take when the sound increased and was accompanied by the clinking of armor.

Shoot- this was a slight problem-

Then again, what did he expect? They no doubt had an abundance of ender pearls and swiftness potions, something Dream completely forgot about for the past few days and was now scolding himself for doing so.

He hurriedly ran towards another cave system, heartbeat quickening and thumping against his chest as he paused to pull out his pickaxe, but still pressing himself against the jagged rock behind to reduce the risk of being spotted. He hoped they wouldn’t hear him, or that maybe one of them happened to be mining at the same time to cover up the scratching and clink as iron slammed into stone.

“Who’s digging?” George’s voice came from down the chain of small caves, dangerously close to where Dream was.

He froze, pickaxe in hand. His mind was screaming at him to get a move on, to hurry, but he found his limbs planted firmly in place. A quiet gasp escaped his lips and he clapped his free hand over his mouth, breathing becoming heavier and more erratic. 

All Dream could think of was what would happen if they found him- the prison- he couldn’t go back there- just couldn’t-

“Me,” Ant reassured and it took all his self-restraint to not let out a sigh of relief as he kicked aside a large boulder, uncovering and darting down the exit.

Dream cursed under his breath as his last eye of ender shattered before him, the glassy shards landing softly onto the fine sand of the desert.

His sharp eyes instinctively began scanning the surrounding area, looking for the glow of lava reflecting off of the ivory-colored sand. There happened to be a lava pool to the right, and he sprinted through the sand, taking small sips of water from his water bottle, eyes watering slightly from the grains of sand that had flown into his eyes.

Dream let his instincts take over, hands mindlessly flying back and forth to form the pieces of obsidian. 

A gust of wind blew past, tossing the ends of his cloak into the air. It felt refreshing, though moments later he was reminded of the sharp mountain peak he stood on, waiting for Tommy and Tubbo to arrive as the wind had whistled through the nearby acacia tree. He recalled the squirming feeling in his chest- that had been the first time he’d felt genuinely nervous in a while.

His hand slipped as he was brought back to reality and saw the cooling chunk of obsidian before him, right in the middle of the portal frame he’d been working on.

He shivered despite the dry heat of the desert, and built a new portal frame using the leftover lava. A few clicks from his flint and steel were all that was required to light the portal, and soon enough a shimmering sheet of purple appeared before him.

He stepped into the portal, sending ripples through the swirling and glittering particles as he felt a slight tugging feeling at his gut before landing on his knees, wincing as his hands made contact with the netherrack ground.

Dream straightened and walked away from the portal, making his way towards the red-tinted fog ahead.


	3. Hellscape of Reminders

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter was slightly rushed- i mean you can probably tell
> 
> and i posted this a bit late- sorry-
> 
> yeah ill stop talking now

To put it plainly, the nether sucked.

The stifling heat and ash rising from the smoldering netherrack made it hard to breathe, and he constantly wiped the beads of sweat off his forehead with the corner of his shirt. He became delirious after only a few minutes, and the trudge past a soul sand valley went by in a blur.

Dream perked up when the burgundy structure of a fortress came into view through the mist. He took a sip of water but nearly dropped it when he spotted a flash of salmon pink out of the corner of his eye.

“Techno?” his half-conscious mind wondered, but gave a disappointed sigh when he looked closer and saw the tattered burlap bags and golden sword it was carrying. Oh.

The piglin grunted and nodded curtly when he noticed Dream’s golden boots, then walking away.

Dream was about to call after the piglin and ask to trade, but realized he didn’t have any gold. That’ll be a problem to deal with after he collected blaze rods, then.

He made his way to the crumbling wall of the fortress closest to him, beginning to scale the wall. A brick loosened and he lost his grip, clawing at the wall as he tumbled down, along with a few loose chunks of nether brick.

The ground sizzled slightly when his palms made contact with it, leaving long streaks of burnt skin that felt as if someone was stabbing a sharp dagger into his hands. Dream tore a strip of fabric from his sleeves, wincing as he wrapped it around his hands.

This time when he climbed, he made sure to test every section before putting all his weight on the crumbling brick. It took longer, but soon enough he’d reached the top and hauled himself over the ledge, collapsing onto the floor that had accumulated at least ten year’s worth of dust.

Dream dusted himself off and stood up, nearly banging his head on the low cobweb covered ceiling. He made his way through the labyrinth of hallways, the dust and deteriorating bricks making his eyes water. At least in his mind, it was pretty simple to figure out where each section of the fortress was located.

The hallway eventually led to an open area up a set of stairs, leading to the blaze spawner. The spawner’s intricately woven wiring criss crossed over a swirling ball of fire, shooting out fireballs that formed into blazes every so often.

He crouched behind a nether brick fence and waited until the blazes weren’t shooting fireballs anymore before jumping out and swiftly bringing his axe around in an arc. For a split second Dream met the blaze’s fiery eyes-

All he could see was Sapnap, grinning as he set a whole forest ablaze-

Dream dove behind the nether brick again as the blaze began shooting fireballs. He had to stop wasting time.

He jumped out again, blocking with his almost broken shield and slamming his axe into the five or so blazes that had spawned in the time he’d taken to calm down. They died easily and Dream batted away the white puffs of smoke, picking up the red hot rods, about a forearm in length each.

Dream leaned over the side of the platform and spotted a few ledges further down. He tossed the blaze rods into his bag and leaped over the edge, jumping from ledge to ledge with unmatched agility. He relished in this moment as he swung back and forth, landing easily on the ground again.

There was a bastion up ahead. He laughed quietly to himself at his luck.

A sizable chunk of gold had been embedded into the blackstone walls, and he pulled out his pickaxe to prie it out of the charcoal gray blackstone. The gold was quite soft from being in the heat of the nether for so long. It didn’t take much strength for Dream to break it into smaller pieces, more suitable for trading. Several piglins were walking by, the lava reflecting off of their gold accessories. 

In Dream’s mind, he saw Techno. He saw the hybrid’s crimson cape, the polished golden crown, the bloodthirsty glint that was always in his eyes.

It would be so easy to just call in his favor- 

But Techno had other things to do, and Dream doubted he’d be willing to help someone like him- someone who hurt almost every member of his family.

Besides, he could manage this- he didn’t need to drag anyone down with him.

Dream cautiously walked up to one of the piglins, holding a piece of gold out. The piglin grunted at the others before turning to Dream and snatching the gold out of his hand, pulling out a tattered burlap bag from seemingly nowhere, dropping it before Dream’s feet.

His heart sank when he saw that it was full of gravel.

A few tries later, one of the piglins tossed a much smaller bag at him, and he almost shouted in excitement when he opened to find it packed full of ender pearls. He nodded in thanks to the piglins, running out of the bastion. Dream stopped at one of the crevices in the netherrack, crouching down in case anyone came along, and pulled out his materials.

He laid the blaze rods on the ground, and used the end of his axe handle to crush them, their golden sparks flying about like fireflies. Dream then dumped the bag of ender pearls onto the pile of blaze powder. They glowed and crackled with energy, now radiating purple mist and particles.

Despite the predicament he was in, he jumped up and grinned with happiness.

One step closer.


	4. Confrontation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i feel like some parts of this chapter is just me letting out my thoughts/feelings about c!dream
> 
> uh slightly more angst in this chapter i guess

Dream drew in a sharp breath as Sapnap’s sharpened axe flew by his face. He tried to jump onto a nearby tree but missed the branch by mere inches, and resorted to weaving through the forest instead.

He didn’t notice where he was running and tripped on a root, falling into a small pond amongst the trees, dodging another hit from Ant. The muddy water splashed all over him, and he brushed a strand of wet hair from his eyes as he ducked again and hopped out of the pond.

There was a large tree right next to him, and he swung onto the branches, making his way to the top. Dream sprinted along the treetops.

A tree branch that stuck out got caught on his tattered shield. He tried to wrestle it free but resigned to tossing it aside, seeing Sapnap coming closer.

“Oh my god leave me alone!” Dream shouted, exasperated.

He jumped down from the trees and ran to the grassy field next to the forest. He tried to pull out a piece of porkchop he’d cooked earlier, but fumbled with the items in his bag, accidentally pulling out a pouch full of flint.

Dream shoved the flint back into his bag and turned around, only to find Sapnap about two feet away from him.

He yelped in surprise and Sapnap lunged at him, slamming him down onto the ground. The rest of the guards followed close behind, forming a semi-circle of sorts around Dream as Sapnap and Bad pinned him down.

“Just leave me alone,” Dream said, panting slightly while he struggled to stand up. “I’m leaving anyways and you- you’ll never see me again-” he stuttered, cringing at how desperate he sounded.

“You can’t run away from all your problems,” Sapnap said, evidently attempting to hold back his anger.

“Well what other option is there when everyone refuses to give me a chance-” he began, but Sapnap cut him off.

“A chance for what?!” his voice nearing a shout as the frustration poured out. “You deserve every little bit of punishment you’ve gotten!”

“A chance to at least explain myself!” Dream retorted, “Since when was the last time anyone here properly listened to me- like- without any bias or emotion clouding their judgement?”

“Tell me,” Dream screamed, “since when?!”

“You think you can justify doing all of that to everyone, Tommy and Tubbo especially?” Ant cut in.

“Everyone acts like those two can do no wrong,” Dream scoffed, “and if anything bad happens- oh no it’s all my fault. I- I know I did terrible things,” he felt the tears burning in the corner of his eyes, “but- it was for a good reason.”

“A good reason?” George said, talking in the same hurt tone he used when Dream dethroned him. “You don’t even care about any of us- what good reason could you have?”

“It’s-” 

He shifted uncomfortably under the stares of everyone around him- he wasn’t used to opening up this much to anyone and the words and explanations refused to form into anything even slightly more coherent than a jumble of thoughts. He decided to try and focus on a plan of escape instead.

Dream still had two ender pearls left, he’d collected those after leaving the nether- they were securely tied to his belt. He surreptitiously moved his arm slightly, using his fingertips to prie one of the pearls out of the belt loops.

Bad caught sight of his actions and he froze, but the demon simply gave him a sympathetic smile and took a step to the side, giving Dream room to pearl out.

He was barely shaking off his shock before he realized he’d already tossed the glassy orb into a nearby meadow bordering a desert, landing on a patch of wild dandelions.

An idea popped into his head all of a sudden, and he began getting to work, searching his bags and pouches for several materials. Half an hour or so later, he had several tubes of paper and was in the process of stuffing each of them with dye he’d harvested on a whim and some gunpowder he’d found a few days ago.

Dream had never tried this tactic himself, but he remembered Techno teaching him how to make the fireworks when they were preparing for Doomsday.

“And just tie it in place and for the love of god do not let anything flammable near it,” Techno had said.

He smiled to himself at the memory.

Once he was finished with the fireworks, he turned to a nearby tree, axe in hand. He stripped large pieces of wood from the trunk, then chopping sturdier planks out of the rest of it, eventually tying and stringing the pieces together to make about half a dozen small crossbows.

The first firework clicked into place on the crossbow. He went to put the rest into their respective crossbows but felt the vibration of a chat notification from his bag.  
Antfrost has made the advancement [Eye Spy]  
Sapnap has made the advancement [Eye Spy]  
BadBoyHalo has made the advancement [Eye Spy]  
GeorgeNotFound has made the advancement [Eye Spy]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> edit- oops accidentally posted this a day early
> 
> oh well


	5. The End?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> first off- apologies for posting this a day late
> 
> really hope i don't disappoint anyone with the ending
> 
> this chapter was slightly shorter than the others

Dream peered over the edge of the long winding hole in the ground, the distinct grays and greens of mossy stone bricks just barely visible at the bottom. He launched himself down the hole, gripping onto and swinging from the pieces of rock jutting out as he fell down. 

The air tossed his hair into his face and the rush of adrenaline flooded through him. Dream landed in the stronghold, bracing himself with his hands when he dropped onto the pile of crumbling stone bricks, the moss already in the process of eating away at the centuries old stone.

Dream has made the advancement [Eye Spy]

Oh shoot. He’d completely forgot about that, and internally groaned at the vibration from his communicator.

The echoes of his friends’ the guards’ shouts ran through the winding, unlit hallways. To Dream, they seemed muffled, and he couldn’t tell if they were shouts of excitement or panic.

Probably the former.

He remembered one of the last manhunt games he’d played with them, right before Jschlatt was elected. 

“I have gone over the scenarios in my head-”

He cringed slightly at his past theatricality before picturing the different outcomes in his mind. He shuddered at the thought of the cold, lifeless walls of the prison, the draining numb feeling as the days ticked by.

The metaphorical threads in his mind seemed to untangle themselves from one long, twisted jumble of possibilities, each outcome becoming clearer as the threads fanned out. Some stopped just inches past the original tangle of events while others stretched on for miles and miles ahead.

Billions and trillions of possibilities, yet his hope for winning was slim.

He couldn’t afford to lose, not this time.

Dream fingered the trigger on one of his crossbows. Well, he thought to himself with a wry smile, if everything went to plan, he’d be lighting quite a few fireworks in celebration tonight.

Once he ran down the set of spiraling stairs, the sounds of the guards’ conversations became clearer, and seemed to be coming from the doorway to the right. Dream lightly set his bag on the ground to pull out all his crossbows, then looping most of them onto his belt while he held one in his hand.

He inched down the corridor, though it wasn’t very long before he came across a stone wall. The voices were pretty obviously coming from the other side, so he set a bundle of previously made TNT where the floor met the stone wall, lighting it with a grin. Dream’s smile widened as the wall of rock vanished in a cloud of smoke and ash.

Some things never change.

The moment the TNT exploded, Dream rushed through to the portal room, crossbow in hand. 

He fired in rapid succession, tossing each crossbow aside after launching its firework.

The guards were hidden by the blinding honey yellow sparks, the fireworks’ crackle indistinguishable from their shouts.

Back at the Manberg festival he had stood back, watching the chaos ensue rather than try to prevent it, too scared of messing things up if he did. For a moment, Dream’s golden fireworks seemed indiscernible from Techno’s red, white, and blue fireworks back then.

Even now, he was still running away from his problems.

It seemed to be the only thing he ever did, really.

[GeorgeNotFound went off with a bang]  
[Antfrost went off with a bang]  
[Sapnap went off with a bang]  
[BadBoyHalo went off with a bang]

A twinge of guilt tugged at his gut, but at this point he was beyond caring, just wanting to throw his past away to the wind.

Dream pulled out his eyes of ender, casually flicking each one to its position in the portal frames.

Once all of the eyes were in place, the intricate vines carved into the portal contracted slightly, and a sheet of dark blue appeared before him. 

He went to jump into the portal, but hesitated at the last moment.

This was goodbye, wasn’t it?

He had no idea if he was ever coming back.

Just do it, the impulsive part of his mind whispered.

Dream instinctively reached to rub his eyes to hide the tears, even though there was no one else there.

He turned so that his back was facing the portal and stepped back, letting the inky darkness of the portal consume him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (this note'll be a little cheesy)
> 
> Wow.  
> 1k hits  
> I feel a little cliche saying this and this work is only five chapters but I never expected so many people to read this  
> Just- wow- I really appreciated all of your comments and kudos  
> You all have really motivated me to write more and to actually finish this work  
> Just- thank you all so much


End file.
